The Other Person
by BBFate
Summary: I know people probably won't read this because I haven't seen many Red Dawn fics, but I love Red Dawn and had this idea. Whether anyone reads it or not, I had to write it down.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

 **Jed POV**

It'd been about eight weeks since we'd come to the mountains. It was the day after our dad, and other's in the group, had been killed in a mass shooting. We'd decided to fight back. We hadn't done it yet, but we were planning it. It was around sunset, and me and Matt were walking around the camp keeping watch.

"Matt, you hear that?"

We stopped in our tracks.

"Run!"

We started running, when I heard Matt trip and fall. I turned just in time to see a soldier holding a gun up pointing at him.

"Matty!"

I heard a gunshot, and my heart sank.

 **Matt POV**

"Run!"

We bolted, running as fast as we could. I tripped over something and hit the ground hard. I turned and saw the soldier stop and raise his gun before I could've even picked mine up. I closed my eyes and jumped when I heard the gunshot.

Nothing. I didn't feel anything. I opened my eyes to see the soldier fall forward, and after adjusting my eyes, saw someone standing behind him with a rifle. It was a girl, not one of our's. She slowly lowered the gun.

"Matty!"

Jed was beside me, looking me over.

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded and drifted my gaze back to the girl. He followed my gaze. She nodded and turned to walk away.

"Hey, wait!"

I scrambled to my feet and caught up with her. She looked at me with big hazel eyes, face stony.

"What's your name?"

She didn't answer. We took her back to camp, but Jed was losing patience.

"You can't stay here if you don't tell us who you are."

She just sat there and shrugged.

"Come on, she saved my life."

"She could've done that to get in with us. We don't even know if she speaks English, she could be one if them!"

She rolled her eyes, which made me smirk.

"Get out if you won't talk!"

She was gathering her stuff when He'd grabbed her rifle. I gawked at him, he shrugged.

"Can't chance it."

She started walking away from us, when Robert and Aardvark walked out of the woods.

"Hey, who's the..."

The question died on his lips and she stopped in her tracks.

"Beth?!"

Her face was still stony. Jed and I walked towards them. Robert and the girl were having a stare down. Jed got Robert's attention.

"Robert, you know her?"

He looked at Jed and nodded.

"How good?"

He looked at her again.

"Good enough."

Jed looked at me, nodded, and handed her back her rifle. She started to walk away, when Robert caught her arm.

"You out here alone?"

Responding for the first time, she nodded.

"Then, you're not going anywhere."

She glared and tried to get out of his grip. Jed grabbed her other arm.

"Listen, if Robert knows you, you can stay."

"No, you _have_ to stay. You ain't living out here alone."

She glared again, but when Aardvark and I stood in front of her, she sighed in defeat. We took her to the rest of the group.

"Guys, this is Beth. This is Aardvark, Erica, Danny, Matty, Daryl, Toni, and Jed."

She nodded, but didn't say anything. When we handed her a sleeping bag, she curled up and went to sleep. It looked like she hadn't really slept in a long time. Eventually, only myself, Jed, and Robert were awake.

"So, how do you know her?"

He shrugged.

"Used to be friends."

"Used to be?"

"Look, I don't wanna talk about it. She was a friend, now she's not."

Ever since his dad had died, Robert had been different. Consumed with hate.

The next few days went by without a hitch, and we'd just did our first "mission" by having Toni bomb a tank and us hide and kill the guys chasing her. Then, we killed soldiers who were about to do a mass murder.

All through this, Beth never talked, and Robert ignored her. She took orders, that's all Jed cared about.

Even though she didn't talk, she stuck close to the girls and they would talk to her and at least get her to smile. Erica seemed to really like her, maybe because she didn't say much herself.

The only way she communicated was by nodding or shaking her head. She also didn't eat much.

"Do you think she'll ever talk?"

I was watching her and the other girls across our camp for the night. They were talking, she wasn't, but she was included.

"I don't know, Danny."

Jed walked over with more sticks for the fire.

"She's a hell of a shot. That's for sure."

"She's a hunter."

We turned to Robert, who was marking his gun again after that day's stakeout.

"She is?"

"Yeah. Her dad used to take her all the time."

He left it at that.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

 **Erica POV**

It was a couple of days after our last big stakeout. The day I found Col. Andy. After he went to bed that night, I was telling Toni and Beth how handsome he was.

"You just like him cause he's not a kid like us!"

Later, Toni was asleep, but I saw Beth get up and walk to the edge of camp. I'd never heard her talk, but me and Toni liked her. I thought about how what I went through affected me. What had she gone through to make her not talk?

 **Matt POV**

It was my turn to keep watch. I thought everyone was asleep until I saw someone get up and walk towards the edge of the mountain. The closer I got, I figured out it was Beth. I sat beside her.

"Hey."

She nodded. I sighed.

"Have you always been this quiet?"

She smirked. We heard someone snort from behind us and turned to see Robert.

"What're you doing up?"

"Nature calls."

He looked at her.

"No. She hasn't always been this quiet. As a matter of fact, you used to couldn't shut her up."

She glared, but he smirked.

"I didn't mean that as an insult. It'd be nice to hear it again."

Over the next few days, I saw Robert talk to her. She ignored him at first, but eventually would respond, though she still wasn't talking.

 **Beth POV**

I couldn't believe the group had accepted me even though I wouldn't talk. It's not that I couldn't, of course, but I had to be strong. Talking would let that guard down, I had to survive. I wouldn't survive if I was weak, I knew that.

Robert had started talking to me again, and even though I didn't talk back, it was nice.

One night, I woke up from a nightmare. I was sweating, despite it being freezing, and breathing really hard. There was no way I could go back to sleep... Unless...

Gathering up all my courage, I stood up and walked over to where Robert was sleeping and shook his shoulder.

"Huh? What?"

He opened his eyes and focused on me.

"Beth? What're you... You had a nightmare, didn't you?"

I nodded.

"Go grab your sleeping bag."

I did and came back and set it up next to him. I crawled in and turned away from him. He rubbed my back.

"I got you. You're okay."

 **Robert POV**

Me and Matt we're heading back to camp after going to the edge of town to see if anything was going on.

"So, what's the story?"

"What're you talking about?"

"You and Beth. What is she, an ex?"

"No. She's not an ex."

"You sure? Y'all seemed to hate each other at first."

I sighed. It was gonna be said eventually, might as well tell Matt so he could tell everyone.

"Best friends since we were babies."

"Really?"

"Yeah... Until last year. I made her mad. I blew her off for some new friends, she stopped talking to me after that."

"Why? You weren't allowed to have other friends?"

"It wasn't that. It's just, she's never had a lot of friends, but I was always there. She has trust issues, and I broke that trust. No amount of apologizing could fix it. I hurt her."

He nodded.

 **Matt POV**

Later that night, I saw her sitting alone again at the edge of the camp.

"You like to be alone a lot?"

She shrugged.

"Listen, I know that... Whatever happened to you was bad..."

I saw her jaw tighten.

"But, maybe if... If you talk about it, you'll feel better."

"I can't..."

At first, I wasn't sure I heard her right because it was barely above a whisper.

"Yes you can. I saw my dad die in a mass shooting. Come on, tell me."

She took a deep breathe.

"If I tell you, you can't tell Robert..."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

 **Beth POV**

If Matt was shocked to hear me talk, he didn't show it. Hearing my own voice was strange, and it was oddly quiet. He nodded.

"I won't tell him."

I sighed.

"I heard about you guys. How they couldn't find you. People getting hurt and killed, them telling people it was y'all. I knew it wasn't, but it didn't matter..."

I took a deep breathe. I'd tried to forget it all. I pushed back the tears. I couldn't cry. I wouldn't.

"They raided people's houses one by one. It was a couple days before they got to our's, but they did. We figured they wouldn't find anything... When they came out of the house, they grabbed me before I could say anything. I was taken to someplace and put in a room. I was in there for a long time..."

"How long?"

"No idea. I was fed once a day. Someone finally came to get me and they took me to some type of interrogation room. On the table were pictures. One's they had gotten from my house. My room. Of me and Robert. There were some from last year, so they looked really recent..."

I stopped for a second.

"Beth...?"

I put my face in my hands. I felt a hand on my back.

"Come on, what happened?"

"They thought I knew where he was. They were crazy. If I'd known where he was, I probably would've been with him. They do things to try and make you talk..."

He nodded, knowing I wouldn't say more about that.

"After a few days of interrogation and telling them the same thing over and over, they brought his mom in..."

"Did... Did they..."

"They pointed a gun to her and said if I didn't give him up, she'd die."

I pushed back the tears.

"She told me not to give him up. She thought I _did_ know. I told them I didn't know... Oh my gosh, I never thought I'd see that..."

"I'm sorry..."

"She was like my second mom... My mom was her best friend..."

"Was...?"

I nodded.

"They did my parents next, thinking that'd really make me talk... My dad told me the same thing Mrs. Morris had, to keep my mouth shut..."

"Would you have? If you'd known?"

I nodded.

"Three lives verses eight. That's the way I would've looked at it. I knew he wasn't alone if he was alive. It would've helped that they were okay with it, but I don't... I don't want him blaming himself. I have enough guilt for both of us..."

"It ain't your fault. It's those idiots down there..."

We were quiet for several minutes.

"How'd you escape?"

I smirked.

"They were taking me to the re-education camp... Only one guy was taking me. I've been taking karate since I was little, with only one guy, it was easy... Someone saw me and threw me a shotgun and told me to get out of town. I don't know how long I'd been up here before I saw that soldier. I followed him, planning to do what I did anyway. When he raised his gun, I knew I had to get him fast. And, here we are..."

I felt a little better telling someone.

 **Robert POV**

I was setting up where I was sleeping. We'd had a long day, and I just wanted to sleep.

"Hey..."

I froze. The voice was quiet, but I knew it. I slowly stood up and turned.

"I just... Wanted to say goodnight..."

I didn't move. She looked down and started to walk away. I grabbed her arm.

"Sleep here. I know you have nightmares..."

I'd been witnessing her nightmares since we were kids.

 ***flashback***

I was almost asleep when I heard a rock hit my window. I groaned and got up. Not only was it late, but it was pouring. Opening my window, I smirked.

"You know it's 1:00, right?"

She glared.

"Shut up, you idiot! Help me up!"

I laughed and reached my hand down to grab her's. We had this down to a science by now. She was soaked. I sighed and went to my dresser and pulled out some of her clothes.

"Here."

I threw them to her and turned around, giving her privacy.

"You done?"

"Yeahp."

I turned back to her with my arms crossed.

"You know, you're 15 now. You've been doing this since we were 8, don't you think you're a little too old to be having nightmares?"

She rolled her eyes and climbed in my bed.

"You say that like I can turn them off."

I chuckled and climbed in, turning off my lamp. It wasn't two minutes, and I could hear her breathing become steady. She was already out. I turned over and went to sleep. We both slept better when the other was there.

 ***end flashback***

She shook her head.

"I'll be fine. I just..."

I gave her a pointed look.

"Sleep here."

She went and got her stuff and set it up next to mine. She was asleep quickly. I got up to go by the fire, all sleepiness gone. Jed sat beside me.

"So, she's talking now?"

"A little bit."

He nodded.

"We're gonna get a prison camp tomorrow night. You up for it?"

"You bet."


End file.
